Every worker deserves benefits of pending paid sick time law [Video]

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Michigan labor group is urging lawmakers to keep a new law in place that will soon expand paid sick time requirements across the state.

The law is set to go into effect early next year and has faced pushback from business owners. Restaurateurs have said the way the sick time expansion is designed could put small businesses in a tough spot with staffing.

But Ryan Sebolt, the director of government affairs for the Michigan AFL-CIO, said the change is long overdue, adding that sick time is a fundamental right.

“Every worker deserves this benefit,” Sebolt told News 8 Thursday. “This is about people treating people with dignity of being human beings.”

New paid sick time law worries business owners

In July, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the state’s current laws on paid sick time were installed unconstitutionally by lawmakers in 2018.

Back then, the Legislature adopted language from two citizen-led ballot initiatives that would have increased the state’s minimum …